French Cheeses

This huge mountain cheese is matured for eighteen months to produce a fruity, hazelnut flavour and a smooth, creamy, buttery paste. It is similar to a Swiss Gruyère. A whole cheese weighs up to 60kg and has a distinctive concave edge. £3.60 per 100g

An ancient Poitevin cheese shaped like a small, flattened cone, Chabichou is emphatically goaty in flavour and aroma. The name comes from the local dialect word for 'goat' derived from the Arabic 'chebli'.

A tall, cylindrical, creamy-white cheese marbled with dark, blue-green veining. The paste is smooth and fairly moist, tasting quite rich and tangy but not too bitter. A fourme is the name given to the mould which shapes the cheese and Ambert is the town around which the cheese is made. £2.20 per 100g

A strong, spicy, orange-brown cheese shaped like a sunken drum. Its paste is rich and smooth and has a pungent aroma. Champagne can be poured into the hollow allowing the cheese to be savoured as one might enjoy Stilton with port. Also available as a small individual cheese £2.40 per 100g

This cheese is shaped in cloth-lined moulds, then encircled with a strip of spruce bark and washed in brine for three weeks. The spruce imparts a resinous flavour to the pale interior which becomes almost liquid as it matures. Two sizes available - 500g & 800g. Only available October to February.!!

An ancient cheese first made by monks in the 7th century. The paste is buttery-yellow, very rich and creamy and the rind is an orange-red colour. The flavour is spicy and tangy and it has a lively aroma. £2.80 per 100g

Traditionally, this cheese is placed in front of a fire and the surface of the melted cheese is scraped onto hot baked potatoes, which are then eaten with pickles. A real winter warmer and excellent for parties. See our Raclette grills and accessories in the Cheese Accessories and Gifts section. £2.00 per 100g

Roquefort is one of the most famous of all cheeses. It has a creamy, white paste with green-blue veining and a full flavour characteristic of a ewe's milk cheese. Vieux Berger is one of the last hand-made Roqueforts. £3.80 per 100g

Tomme is the generic term for a deep disc-shaped cheese. The locals dunk this cheese in their soup, as well as serving it for breakfast. The cheese is firm but supple, mild in flavour with a hint of walnuts. £2.30 per 100g